Railway wagon, banana van, No B882593, British Railways, 1960.

The transport of bananas from the docks to the distribution warehouses used to provide considerable traffic for the railways. The arrival of a banana boat at places such as Avonmouth, Garston, or Barry would often result in the running of a number of special fitted-freight trains to distribute the fruit around the country. Insulated vans were used to ensure that the bunches were not exposed to extremes of temperature during their journey, some also being steam-heated to ripen the fruit.